Madapple Review
Madapple is the story of a young woman who has such an isolated upbringing that she
does not know if her name is Aslaug Datter (which is what her mother, Maren, always called her) or Aslaug Heller (her mother's surname). Her mother had come to rural Maine from Denmark in 1987 as a 15-year-old who did not know she was pregnant. A couple of months after her arrival, when she learns that she is four months pregnant, she begs her older sister, Sara, to join her. Sara is also pregnant and has a two-year-old daughter, Susanne. Sara comes for a visit but decides to stay because her own marriage to Mikkel has floundered. However, within a couple of years, Maren and Sara have a falling-out and Aslaug grows up not knowing that she has any relatives.
Maren settles herself and the two-year-old Aslaug into an old house in the Maine woods, from which she and Aslaug can gather most of their food along with whatever medications Maren thinks they need. Aslaug is raised to believe that she is special, having come to earth through a virgin birth, but when Aslaug is 17, Maren dies and here the story gets
Links Of London Necklaces complicated because Aslaug leaves the only home she remembers and goes out into the world.
Madapple received starred reviews in School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist. Because it was listed on so many 2008 best book lists and was already available in a Listening Library recorded version beautifully performed by Kirsten Potter, my husband and I listened to it for a couple of weeks last March as we drove to school. This was a good way to "read" the book because there is so much in it that we needed the time between commutes to ponder on the ideas that Meldrum brings up about family ties, religious beliefs, and how hard the human mind will work to convince itself that unbelievable things are believable. It is such a long book (more than 11 hours on tape) that I'm not suggesting it for in-class listening, plus the themes of drugs, incest, religion, and death are so mature that only the most sophisticated students will be ready for it. Teachers may want to listen to it themselves, however, or play part of it as a book talk to interest students in reading the book for independent reading or use selected chapters as material for a lesson on symbolism.
Although the book is a combination murder mystery and contemporary bildungsroman, it has all the trappings of an ancient fantasy. Its old-fashioned tone comes from the characters' names and from how Maren and Auslaug gather their food and medicine from the forest. Maren destroys all the mirrors in their house and even in the car she seldom drives. She teaches Auslaug only the bare minimum required by the home schooling official who makes infrequent visits to their out-of-the-way home. Instead, she teaches Aslaug Greek and the names of the runes while introducing her to the ancient stories of Norway, along with Christian scriptures and the Kabbalah, the Torah, and the Upanishads. Each symbolic chapter title conies from the folk name of a flower or a plant such as
Links Of London Charms Gnaphalium, Angel's Trumpet, Adder's Eyes, lily, Witch Hazel, and Golden Bough. Madapple is another name for jimsonweed, a poisonous plant belonging to the nightshade family. The most important name inside the book is Solomon's Seal, which is the title of alternate chapters written in the style of court transcriptions.
Madapple is Christina Meldrum's first book, which is one of the reasons it is receiving so much attention. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, she majored in religious studies and political science. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she became a litigator, who, besides working in the United States, has had work responsibilities in Switzerland and Africa, and in her spare time, has become an amateur botanist. All of these interests and knowledge have found their way into this book. Next time someone tells me that they prefer fiction to nonfiction, "because you don't learn anything from fiction," I'm going to recommend that they read Madapple and then come back and further discuss their premise.
Madapple Review
By: endeavor19
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